City moved quickly to land Wilfried Bony in the Premier League’s biggest and best bit of business.

But, ironically, the patient Blues faithful are likely to have waited five weeks for the Ivory Coast star’s debut – he is pencilled in to make his bow in the home clash with Newcastle on February 21.

The £25million purchase of Bony was the biggest news of a transfer window that was light on substance, as the Blues snapped up a proven Premier League goalscorer.

City fans excited by the arrival of the centre forward have been frustrated by the progress of Ivory Coast in the African Nations Cup.

Bony’s two headers against Algeria in the quarter-final underlined the reasons the Blues had shelled out such a fee

But they also fired his team into the last four, ensuring Bony and City teammate Yaya Toure will stay in Equatorial Guinea until the weekend.

That rules them out of the home game with Hull on Saturday, and probably out of the trip to Stoke the following Wednesday.

And with City having a blank weekend after their FA Cup exit, the two players will not be available again until the Geordies come to town.

That means Bony’s second game for the Blues could be the first leg of the Champions League last 16 clash with Barcelona on February 24 – if he is included in the Champions League squad.

Manager Manuel Pellegrini has until midnight on Tuesday to decide who gets the chop from his European squad to keep it within the imposed limit of 16 foreign players.

The arrival of Bony means City now have 17 foreign-trained players in their squad – so someone has to go.

Stevan Jovetic was firm favourite for the axe at the beginning of the month, but he has played more football than Edin Dzeko since both returned from injury – and the Bosnian is likely to have entered Pellegrini’s thoughts as he ponders a tough choice.

Take a look at who City have signed down the years in the January transfer window below

There was even talk of Fenerbahce testing City’s resolve to keep Dzeko, but the Blues have slapped a 'not for sale' sign on the Bosnian, who has scored four goals in 22 appearances this season.

The early move for Bony – the signing was wrapped up on January 14, when Bony was on a pre-tournament camp in Abu Dhabi – meant a quiet deadline day for City.

The only move in which they were involved was to agree a month’s loan at Walsall for 20-year-old striker Jordy Hiwula. The Hulme lad has already had a loan spell at Yeovil this season, scoring once in nine matches.

Roberto Mancini tried to take Micah Richards away from his season’s loan at Fiorentina, but that died a quick death when the Viola - pushing for a European place - insisted on keeping the on-loan City defender.

It was an odd move, as Richards was often the subject of Mancini’s wrath when he was City boss, although he was first-choice right back for most of the 2011-12 title season.

West Ham were interested in taking Dedryck Boyata on loan for the rest of the season, but again City have made it plain that they cannot afford to lose anyone from a squad that is necessarily tight.

Celtic have also been trying to persuade John Guidetti to make his loan move permanent, with reports in Scotland suggesting City have already agreed a fee for the 22-year-old.

But Guidetti, who has been dropped by the Bhoys after his early-season scoring spurt dried up, wants to keep his options open, with his contract ending this summer.

City have already trimmed by sending out Scott Sinclair on loan to Aston Villa, Matija Nastasic to Schalke on loan with a view to a permanent deal, George Evans to Scunthorpe and Devante Cole to MK Dons and Bruno Zuculini to Cordoba after a frustrating loan at Valencia.